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| தொடுப்புக்கள் |
| Other things |
| தொடுப்புக்கள் |
| Other things |
| தொடுப்புக்கள் |
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| Sri Lanka President's brother escapes bomb blast |
| Friday, December 1, 2006 |
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's brother Gothabaya, who is also the island's defence secretary, narrowly escaped a suspected suicide bomb attack in the island's capital on Friday, officials said.
Hospital officials said 14 people were admitted with injuries after the blast, including one seriously hurt.
The President's office said Gothabaya was unhurt and had gone straight to see his brother after the attack, blaming it on a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber.
"After the explosion, he directly came to the President's office and hugged him," said Sudath Silva, President Rajapakse's official photographer. "The blood on his clothes was that of his security guards."
"The President told him: 'They will never do it'."
The secretary's driver had earlier said he had suffered slight injuries.
The attack comes just days after the Tigers' shadowy leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said the groups were resuming their independence struggle, which analysts said means a new chapter in the island's two-decade civil war is likely to escalate.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment, but routinely deny involvement in attacks -- denials few believe.
"It looks like a suicide attack, either from a three wheeler or by a motorbike," said a police officer at the scene, refusing to give his name.
A Reuters witness saw a headless body in the back of a civilian pickup lorry at the scene of the blast and the wreckage of a three wheeler taxi -- vehicles which have been used in previous bomb attacks blamed on the rebels.
Two cars and a motorbike caught in the blast lay on the road in flames.
"President Mahinda Rajapakse remains unshaken in his resolve to achieve peace in Sri Lanka and in his efforts to combat all forms of terrorism and violence," Rajapakse's office said in a statement.
The attack took place outside an upscale Indian restaurant in downtown Colombo, a few hundred metres from the Prime Minister's offices.
Sri Lanka's two-decade civil has killed more than 67,000 civilians, troops and rebel fighters since 1983, around 3,000 of those this year alone. |
posted by தமிழினி @ 2:34 AM  |
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